Potential anti-competitive behavior has been a bit of a sticking point for Apple as of late, and French regulators may be ready to take the company to task for it.
According to Reuters, Apple is on the cusp of facing a major fine from French regulators due to anti-competitive behavior. Details are still light, with the report basing its information on unnamed sources speaking to the publication on the matter. But those sources say that the announcement of the fine against Apple will probably arrive this Monday, March 16. If that does indeed come to pass, plenty of additional details will come to light.
As far as what we know now, though, the regulators in France are apparently targeting what they perceive as anti-competitive behavior in the company’s “distribution and sales network”. However, any specifics to what that means, as far as the regulators’ decision here, remains unknown. The App Store could be a possibility, though.
France’s competition watchdog is set to fine iPhone maker Apple Inc (AAPL.O) next Monday over anti-competitive behaviour in its distribution and sales network, two sources close to the matter said on Thursday.
One of the sources said the competition authority will give a decision on the matter on Monday, confirming an earlier report by online news website Politico Europe.
The two sources did not elaborate further on the content or the size of the fine. The French competition authority declined to comment.
Back in October of last year, Apple confirmed the French regulators’ investigation of the company. It even acknowledged the fact that the finding could result in a fine for the company. However, just how much that fine might be remains a mystery.
For those keeping track, this is the second major fine against Apple (if it does indeed come to that) from French regulators. Earlier this year the company was handed a $27 million fine for the battery management features the company baked into its software not too long ago. The same features that would throttle older iPhones in favor of better battery life. You remember, it was a whole thing — and cost $500 million in the United States.
We’ll probably know more about this Monday morning, so stay tuned. It will be interesting to see what the monetary result is here, and how hard Apple is willing to fight it.